... propelled us into the matrix of meat in which 5 chefs each went whole hog to create some serious swine dining.

Chris Kostow of Meadowood, Peter Pahk of the Silverado Resort, John Stewart and Duskie Estes of Zazu Restaurant, Dennis Lee of Namu and Devin Knell of The French Laundry all hogged the Spots-light with their culinary renderings.

Toponia Miller and Taylor Boetticher:

... got to carouse before the judges were sequestered, but all of the attendees got to cast ballots for their faves as well. We were particularly impressed with Chef Knell’s fromage de tete:

... and patés, but Ryan’s rynds (aka 4505 Chicharrones) are our pen-ultimate snack. Chef Farr fetched an audience as he sawed his way through a seewine:

... to demonstrate proper porcine puncturing procedure.

There were no hanging chads (unless you count the Newton variety) involved in the voting and this year’s winner was Chef Devin Knell:

... for some of their slider-sized sandwiches made with Prather Ranch beef patties. I got a B-Rad ($3.00, $4.75 with fries) topped with Tillamook Cheddar and bacon and a “burger in a buttercup” ($2.50) in ‘wich butter lettuce replaced the bread.

... began this evening’s tasting of Portuguese wines with a glass of bubbles from Luis Pato. We enjoyed this sparkling floral arrangement along with an array of appetizers (from Jardiniere’s chef):

... which matched Jardim’s air of casual elegance.

We savored the 2008 Esporao White Reserva:

... as Eugenio discussed the pronunciation barrier that accompanies the varietals from this region. He went on to talk about the trend of varietal-based blinders (that cause customers to skip to the Chardonnay or Cabernet pages of a wine list) and how the same customers who query about percentages in a California Pinot Noir never question the breakdown of a Lafite.

The Tao of Dao was shown in a 2006 Quinta de Cabriz Reserva while raspberries sung in the 2007 Singularis. You can experience Eugenio’s oeno-thusiasm for a song during the Monday night, 3 course, $45 prix fixe dinners at Jardiniere (the cost includes wine pairings.)

... at Shalimar, we are extremely careful to pick around all the little bone fragments hidden in this spicy karahi. This order is a no-brainer (the brain masala is an excellent dish by the way) along with a palak paneer ($5.50):

... with a delicious, cumin-get-it serving of spinach and cheese.

The onion kulcha ($2.00):

... is as much a food pusher as a bready bite when we grab a meal at this funky, cash-only, kulcha-ed kitchen.

We broke one of our important rules of wine tasting today - arrive early. Our later appearance at the Chronicle Wine Competition Public Tasting yielded a bumper crop of toasted tasters.

This sold out event had us doing spit takes as we squeezed past a staggering number of wine wielders yelling the praises of Robert or Katherine Hall as we hauled through this hall towards the plummy 2007 Quivira Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel:

We tried to crush past the tight clusters in upstairs area, but we hit a brix wall when we couldn’t punch through the cap at this center of all drinking humanity.

There were juice box wines:

... as well as ones targeted at more mature palates:

... during this SF Chronicle delivery of a fully realized wine section.

... in a rich red wine sauce with mashed potatoes, green beans and rainbow colored carrots which we washed down with a peppery 2007 Fort Ross Pinot Noir.

We went up the apples and pears to a caramel sauce covered scoop of butter pecan ice cream in flight over this fruit-packed crisp.

A chocolate enrobed, peanut butter cup was sprinkled with Maldon salt and served with a sensational sea salt brittle and craveable peanut ice cream.

To sweeten the deal even further, five hours of complimentary parking in the Hilton lot are included with dinner to offer additional validation to Chef Colin Duggan’s digable punctuation to San Francisco dining.